6.  The applicant was born in 1970 and lives in Tbilisi.
7.  The applicant worked as an officer at a regional branch of the Customs Department (hereafter “the old customs office” of “the Department”), an agency of the Ministry of Finance.  Due to the structural reorganisation of the Department on 30 June 1995, he was released by an administrative order of 5 August 1995, together with some other people. This order noted that the discharged officers were to be transferred to another, newly established regional customs office (“the new customs office”).
8.  On 5 August 1995 the applicant requested the Department's authorisation to take up his duties at the new customs office. No reply was forthcoming. For the next six years, he complained on numerous occasions before various governmental agencies about the inability to continue his service.
9. In a letter of 21 March 2001, the Department informed the applicant that, after its reorganisation on 30 June 1995, staff had been significantly reduced and, in so far as he had continuously been absent from the old customs office without authorisation, the administration had decided not to employ him any longer. The lawfulness of such a decision, the letter noted, was assured by the provisions of the Labour Code (“the LC”), the sole legislative act which regulated civil servants' labour disputes at that time. The applicant was invited to visit the Department's human resources office, in order to obtain the order for his dismissal and the work log.
10.  On 23 May 2001 the applicant sued the Department for unfair dismissal, requesting reinstatement to his position and compensation for loss of salary.
11.  In a first instance judgment of 22 November 2001, the Isani-Samgori District Court in Tbilisi found in the applicant's favour. However, in an appellate decision of 15 April 2002, the Tbilisi Regional Court rejected his action as time-barred. The appellate court first noted that, in so far as the Civil Service Act of 31 October 1997 had not been enacted at the time of the applicant's dismissal, only the provisions of the LC had been applicable to the dispute. Given the fact that the applicant had continuously been complaining before various authorities, except for the courts, about his inability to pursue his duties as a customs officer, the appellate court found that he had been well aware of the alleged breach of his rights since his dismissal took effect in 1995. In such circumstances, it concluded that the applicant had failed to comply with the one-month time-limit for lodging an employment action, as required by Article 204 § 1 of the LC.
12.  In May 2002 the applicant lodged a cassation claim, in which he called into question the appellate court's assessment of the circumstances of the case and certain evidence. It appears from the case file that the respondent Department did not submit any reply to that claim.
13.  On 12 June 2002 the Civil Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court of Georgia (“the Chamber”) at an oral hearing attended by the applicant, started the examination of the case but, due to the absence of the Department's representative, adjourned it. The Chamber also decided to dispense with an oral hearing in the further proceedings.
14.  On 13 June 2002 the applicant, complaining about the absence of an oral hearing, requested the President of the Supreme Court to change the Chamber's composition. In a decision of 18 June 2002, the Chamber dismissed this request as unsubstantiated.
15.  In a decision of 19 June 2002, adopted under the written procedure, the Chamber dismissed the applicant's cassation claim. Having confirmed the appellate court's interpretation of the LC, it stated that it lacked jurisdiction to inquire into matters of fact, in so far as the applicant had not raised any “additional and well-founded cassation argument” (Article 407 § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure).